Nikolai Sverchkov

Born: 1817, Tsarskoe Selo

Died: 1898, Tsarskoe Selo

Painter, draughtsman, lithographer, sculptor. Born in Tsarskoe Selo in the family of imperial groom and coachman Yegor Sverchkov (1817). Studied under Alexander Gottlob Sauerweid at the school of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1827–29) and at the school of the Lutheran Church of St Peter and St Paul in St Petersburg (1829–33). Worked in the management department of the Ministry of the Interior (1833–42). Awarded the title of free artist (1839) and resigned from the civil service with the rank of collegiate secretary (1842). Painted horses at the Khrenovoe and Çesme studfarms in Voronezh Province (mid-1840s). Lithographed a series of street and road scenes for Croquis russes par Svertschkoff published by Giuseppe Daziaro (1845) and Album of Horse Breeders with Portraits of the Sires and Dams of the Finest Studfarms in Russia Painted from Life and Lithographed by the Artist N. Sverchkov published by Johann Velten (1846–50). Visited Nikolai Nekrasov at his estate of Karabikha near Yaroslavl (early 1850s), where he illustrated the poet’s works and painted an equestrian portrait of his common-law wife Avdotia Panayeva (1854). Academician of folk scenes (1852), professor (1855). Lived and worked in Paris, London and Brussels (1856–64). Returned to St Petersburg (1864), where he painted history works and equestrian portraits for the imperial family (1864–82). Member of the Monday Evening Club (from 1881). Created a total of 350 paintings, twelve sculptures and a thousand drawings. Died in Tsarskoe Selo and buried at the Kazan Cemetery (1898). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1839). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1839–97), Paris Salon (1856–64), Society of Exhibitions of Works of Art (1876, 1877), Society of Russian Watercolourists (1885), Pan-Russian Exhibition of Art and Industry in Moscow (1882) and the international exhibitions in Paris (1863), Brussels (1864), London (1872), Vienna (1873), Philadelphia (1876) and Antwerp (1885). Awarded the Légion d’honneur (1863).